Kevin Goldstein looks at the top minor league corner outfield prospects, and in his list of the top 12, plus 5 honorable mentions, there is nary a Ranger farmhand to be found.
This is mainly noteworthy because of the love that John Mayberry, Jr., still gets in some quarters...he's still thrown out there as a potential top 100 prospect, and gets love from the scouty/BA types.
But I'm still thinking that a guy from a big college program who turns 24 in December should be putting up better numbers. And particularly concerning, to me, is the lack of walks...he has just 44 in 454 ABs this season, and is rocking an underwhelming .248/.313/.491 line splitting time between Bakersfield and Frisco. If this pick is going to pan out, Mayberry needs a really big year next year...
Nobody is talking about it, but Vernon Wells has kind of sucked this year. On the heels of his big, $126 million contract extension, he's hitting .263/.315/.442 this year, which would be his worst season since his rookie year in 2002.
Downtown Corey Brown, the OSU outfielder who some folks said the Rangers should have taken instead of Julio Borbon, is posting a solid .267/.384/.530 line in the Northwest League. I am not going to get too worked up about what college hitters do in short season leagues (this is the "Jeremy Cleveland Corollary"), but the thing that really jumps out at me is that the guy has 70 Ks in 202 ABs so far. The Ks in college were what sent up a huge red flag to me anyway...but I'm kind of curious, does anyone know of a player who had that sort of awful K rate in the minors and went on to be a successful major leaguer?
As a point of reference, notorious K-artist Adam Dunn, in two seasons in low-A as a 19 and 20 year old, struck out just 165 times in 733 ABs, a rate of 22% of ABs. Brown is striking out in almost 40% of his ABs.
I'm betting Sammy Sosa gets dealt on August 31. Some playoff contender will option a spare reliever or third catcher or something to make room for Sosa, then call the optioned guy back the next day when rosters expand. That way, the acquiring team isn't really losing a 25 man roster spot, and is basically adding Sosa for September, when the rosters expand, while also having him eligible for the postseason roster.
And I am betting the ever-popular "Future Considerations" is our return...